Arsenal wins at Blackburn
13 cards shown as Chelsea held by Leeds
Posted: Sunday October 25, 1998 02:46 PM
| |
Nicolas Anelka (left) scored a goal on Blackburn goalie Tim Flowers to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory Mike Hewitt/Allsport |
LONDON (AP) -- French stars Nicolas Anelka and Emanuel Petit fired defending champion Arsenal into third place in the Premier League Sunday after a 2-1 victory over struggling Blackburn Rovers.
In another Premier League game, the referee showed 12 yellow cards and a red one to Chelsea's Frank Leboeuf in a 0-0 tie at Leeds.
The Gunners went ahead in the 25th minute at Ewood Park when Anelka collected the ball 30 meters from goal and fired a shot that went in off the inside of the post.
A deflected free kick by Petit seven minutes before halftime made it 2-0 and Blackburn's sole reply was Damien Johnson's 64th-minute diving header after Petit had failed to clear a long throw.
Substitute Kevin Davies had the ball in the Arsenal net for what the Blackburn fans thought was an equalizer 10 minutes from the end but it was ruled out for a foul on Martin Keown.
With the game going into injury time, Blackburn striker Chris Sutton was sent off for clattering into Anelka's legs.
Arsene Wenger's team climbed into third, five points behind Aston Villa, and replacing Liverpool, which crushed Nottingham Forest 5-1 Saturday with four goals from Michael Owen.
Villa was held 1-1 at home by Leicester Saturday and second place Manchester United managed only a 1-1 tie at Derby and is four points behind.
In Sunday's other Premier League game, Leeds missed a penalty and failed to score for the fifth game in a row in a 0-0 tie with Chelsea,
Five Chelsea players -- Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Di Matteo, Frank Leboeuf, goalkeeper Ed de Goey and Dennis Wise -- were shown the yellow card in a 15 minute spell in the first half although none of them for serious fouls.
Referee Mike Reed cautioned a sixth, Michael Duberry, when he brought down a goalbound Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for a penalty in first half injury time. But De Goey blocked Hasselbaink's spot kick with his leg.
Leboeuf was expelled for his second yellow card, a foul on Leeds' Australian forward Harry Kewell, as Chelsea slipped to sixth place and Leeds climbed four places to 10th.
Queens Park Rangers remained rooted to the foot of division one after losing 1-0 at home to Birmingham City, which climbed to second, level on points with unbeaten Sunderland, which has two games in hand.
Rangers have lost all three games and failed to score a goal since Gerry Francis returned as manager.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Lennart Johansson watched the League Cup semifinal between Glasgow Rangers and Airdrie at Celtic Park. They are in Glasgow to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Scottish Football Association.
Having knocked out defending titlist Celtic and also Kilmarnock, division one Airdrie was no match for star-studded Rangers and tumbled 5-0. First half goals by Finnish striker Jonatan Johansson and Ian Ferguson were followed after the break with two strikes by Rod Wallace and one by Gordon Durie.
In the other semifinal, St. Johnstone meets Hearts on Tuesday.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
